Marin spearheads Tecolotes’ 3-hit shutout in 12-0 blowout

Johnny Davis had three runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two walks as the Tecolotes’ offense scored 12 runs in a shutout of Union Laguna Tuesday.

Johnny Davis had three runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two walks as the Tecolotes’ offense scored 12 runs in a shutout of Union Laguna Tuesday.

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times

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Johnny Davis had three runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two walks as the Tecolotes’ offense scored 12 runs in a shutout of Union Laguna Tuesday.

Johnny Davis had three runs, two RBIs, two stolen bases and two walks as the Tecolotes’ offense scored 12 runs in a shutout of Union Laguna Tuesday.

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times

Marin spearheads Tecolotes’ 3-hit shutout in 12-0 blowout

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In their longest stretch away from Laredo this year, the Tecolotes Dos Laredos played for the only time at Uni-Trade Stadium over a 15-game span on Tuesday night.

Building on the massive success they’ve already had at the field this season, the Tecolotes scored three runs early and added eight down the stretch during back-to-back four-run frames to win 12-0 over Algodoneros Union Laguna. It was their fifth shutout of the season while giving up their fewest hits (3) of the year as they kicked off their three-game series.

Coming off a six-game road trip, the Tecos will host the next two games in Nuevo Laredo before going back on the road for six more. Both games will begin at 7 p.m.

The win moves the Tecolotes to 18-13 as they came into the night tied for second place in the Mexican Baseball League’s North division. They had a shot to take back the spot outright as Toros de Tijuana was slightly ahead 5-4 on Tuesday night at press time heading to the eighth inning at Saraperos de Saltillo. The Tecos have 24 games remaining on the season with the next 20 coming against four of the eight teams in the North not currently in the playoff field.

Union Laguna remains in last place in the North falling to 12-19.

The Tecolotes have been strong throughout the LMB’s second season of 2018 at Uni-Trade — moving to 8-1 with Tuesday’s win — and have been bolstered during that span by their pitching. They came into the night allowing only 2.8 runs per game while playing in Laredo.

Starting pitcher Terance Marin lowered that figure to 2.4 with arguably his best performance of the year. The 28 year old out of Modesto, California has slowly transformed throughout 2018 into one of the top pitchers in the LMB, and his dominant outing Tuesday built on that success.

Marin finished the game giving up just two hits over seven innings against the Algodoneros while striking out eight. He had a no-hitter through three innings and retired 21 of the 23 batters he faced. Marin improves to 3-0 and now ranks fifth in the league with a 2.00 ERA.

On the offensive side, the Tecolotes outhit Union Laguna 13-3. Third baseman Daniel Mayora was 3-for-4 with a homer, two runs, two RBIs and a walk while center fielder Johnny Davis (1-3) scored three times while picking up two RBIs, stolen bases and walks.

Catcher Gilberto Galaviz was 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI and middle infielders Juan Martinez and Josh Rodriguez both finished 1-for-3 with two runs — the latter also driving in one. Outfielder Enrique Osorio was also 1-for-2 with a run and two RBIs.

Outfielder Domonic Brown left the game after just one inning as he was replaced by Amaury Cazana (1-3, BB).

The Tecolotes started the game strong with a three-run inning for a lead right out of the gate. They capitalized on two hits, two walks and an error as they jumped ahead of Union Laguna.

Davis and Osorio each walked to begin the game, and then they each stole a base to get into scoring position. That led to an infield single by designated hitter Balbino Fuenmayor (1-5, R, RBI), who beat the throw from third while the run came home for the early advantage. After first baseman Roberto Lopez (1-5) reached on an error at second base during the next at-bat to load the bases, Mayora pushed a ball into right field for the team’s second run. Rodriguez followed with a sacrifice fly for the 3-0 lead.

Neither offense did much during the middle innings as the pitching took over. Both teams went scoreless from the second through fifth until the Tecos finally broke through with back-to-back four run innings in the sixth and seventh to salt the game away.

In the sixth, the first six batters all reached base. After three straight leadoff singles — the latter by Galaviz driving in one — Davis followed by reaching on a throwing error as another came home. Osorio had an RBI single after that for the six-run advantage, and with the bases loaded two batters later, Fuenmayor grounded into a double play as the lead grew to 7-0.

In the seventh, Mayora opened the frame with a solo home run giving him his first blast of the second season. A hit batter and a walk followed setting the table for Davis as he drove both in on a triple with one out for the squad’s 10th run. Osorio brought him in right after on a sacrifice fly to make it 11-0.

The Tecolotes extended the lead to 12-0 to end the eighth loading the bases with two outs. Mayora came home on a wild pitch before Ivan Bellazetin popped out to first in a pinch-hit appearance.

With Marin off the mound, Gerardo Gutierrez threw a scoreless inning with a strikeout in the eighth while giving up a hit and a walk as he lowered his ERA to 17.05 in just his second scoreless relief appearance out of seven this season.

Jose Meraz finished the ninth with a strikeout and a walk in just his second relief appearance with the team.